18 Jul 2020
[Shri Yogendra asked: Namaskaram! After my visits to Pithapuram and Kuravpur, 9 months ago; I started chanting “Digambara, Digambara, Śrīpāda Vallabha Digambara” most of the time. But a lot of troubles started in my life over the past 7 months. They included my health issues and my mother’s paralytic attack, 7 months ago. So, the question that rises in my mind is, am I going in the right direction? Please guide me. Yogendra.]
Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! You have caught the feet of God Dattātreya, who is famous for testing the devotee. Actually, He already knows where the devotee stands and hence, no tests are necessary for Him. The tests are conducted only for our knowledge; so that we can realize the real level where we stand. Upon realizing where we stand, we can start our spiritual journey from that point. Most of us feel that we have already reached a very high level and we try to continue the spiritual effort further from that level onwards.
A school boy, after passing the 10th standard should join the intermediate program or junior college (11th standard). After completing that program (11th and 12th), he has to join college for the bachelor’s degree program. After passing it and earning the bachelor’s degree, he should join the postgraduate program at the university. However, the boy, right after passing the 10th standard, might have an illusion that he has earned a bachelor’s degree and has already passed college. So, he might directly go to the university and sit in the postgraduate class. Then, the boy will certainly be tested on the bachelor’s degree curriculum to make him realize the truth that he has just passed the 10th standard and not the bachelor’s degree college. The test will help the student recognize where he really stands. He will then join the intermediate program and continue his education from that level. So, the test is not bad for the student. It actually helps him progress.
The word digambara means naked or not wearing any clothes. Here, the clothes stand for the body as said in the Gītā (Vāsaṃsi jīrṇāni...). It means that you have to recite that prayer when you have reached a very high level of spiritual knowledge, in which you are not even conscious about your body. If you are in that state, all the problems faced by you will not disturb you at all because all those problems are related to the bond of your soul with the body. The body is a superimposition (adhyāsa) upon the soul, as per the theory of Śankara. Accordingly, you have to realize that you are the pure awareness or the soul and not the body made of the five inert elements. When you thus stop identifying yourself with your body and instead, identify yourself only with the soul, you get rid of 99% of worldly problems. This stage attained by you is called salvation, which is the release from worldly miseries. It gives you an undisturbed and peaceful mind to concentrate on God.
Śankara said that this soul or pure awareness itself is God. This was done only to encourage the devotee to reach this stage of identifying oneself with the eternal soul, instead of the non-eternal body. When you have to climb up 100 steps to reach your goal, your well-wisher will not directly tell you that the goal is 100 steps high since you will get discouraged and quit. He will instead tell you that your goal is only 10 steps high. When you climb up the first 10 steps, the well-wisher will say that the goal is just another 10 steps higher. This continues until you finally reach the actual goal that was 100 steps high. This is called arthavāda, which is a lie told to encourage the soul to start the journey and progress in the right direction. It is in this sense that Śankara said that if the soul gives up the identification with the body and instead, identifies with the state of pure awareness, the ultimate goal, which is God, is attained.
It is true that both God and the soul are said to be eternal. But the eternality of the soul is different from the eternality of God. The soul was created by God and it remains eternal only as long as God wishes. The body will perish at the end of one birth, but the soul will continue to take endless births, with a new body in every birth. The number of births taken by a soul is said to be endless since the soul continues to take births as long as God wishes. Strictly speaking, the soul is only relatively eternal with reference to the perishing body (Na hanyate hanyamāneśarīre...—Gītā). The soul is certainly not absolutely eternal like God. Thus, the eternality of the soul is only relative (Ajo nityaḥ śāśvato’yam...—Gītā).
For all human beings, a gradual path of salvation (kramamukti) has been prescribed. It means that you have to pass from the stages of brahmacarya to gṛhastha to vānaprastha and finally, to saṃnyāsa. A sudden long jump from brahmacarya to saṃnyāsa was only justified in the case of Śankara, who was the Incarnation of God Śiva and who had come down to earth to convert atheists into theists.
Do you not eat all the courses and dishes served in a meal? You similarly have to pass through all the āśramas, step-by-step. After passing through all the āśramas, you finally become a saint (saṃnyāsī) only in your old age. This is the rule for all souls created by God. In brahmacarya, you have to get professional education, with the help of which, you are to get a job and earn your livelihood. Then, in gṛhastha, you should get married to a suitable life partner, who will encourage and support you in your materialistic and spiritual efforts. Just as your mother serves you in your childhood, your life partner will serve you in your old age. Then, after retirement, you will have to acquire spiritual education, with the help of which, you will become near and dear to God and be fully blessed by Him. This is vānaprastha. After the attainment of spiritual knowledge, you have to propagate spiritual knowledge in society to help others. This is saint hood (saṃnyāsa). One need not leave one’s life-partner in sainthood. Saint Sureśvara propagated spiritual knowledge along with his wife, Ubhayabhāratī.
The prayer which you recite is related to the final stage, called saṃnyās aāśrama. Instead of that prayer, you can pray to God by reciting this prayer “Śritāvana Śritāvana Śripāda Vallabha Śritāvana”. Śritāvanā means God protecting His devotees and this applies to souls in all stages. The prayer you are reciting is to be recited only by saints and not by others.
The Gītā says that praying to the non-mediated God, indicated by the word digambara, gives misery (Avyaktāhi gatirduḥkhaṃ...). A true saint likes difficulties and miseries because they always bring the soul closer and closer to God. Happiness always inflates the ego and takes the soul farther from God, whereas misery brings the soul closer to God. The realised soul always prays to God, inviting miseries which are the punishments for his own bad deeds done in the past. When the soul faces the miseries, as early as possible, they do not gather much interest and grow. Thus, one does not have to unnecessarily face additional misery. Kuntī asked God for more and more difficulties, so that the devotion that she had developed in the past, due to the many difficulties faced by her, would continue to develop further!
Keywords:
| Shri Datta Swami | Recognizing One's Spiritual Stage | Digambara digambara shripadvallabh digambara Gita Vaasamsi jiirnaani Adhyaasa Shankara Arthavaada Na hanyate hanyamaane shariire Brahmacharya Samnyaasa Samnyaasii Grughasta Vaanaprastha Sureshvara Ubhayabhaarti Shritaavanaa Shritaavanaa Shripaada Vallabha Shritaavanaa Avyaktaahi gatirduhkham
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